252 PRAIRIE AND FOREST. 
the village juveniles to practice at, I started for a favorite 
stand, which, with the present wind, was certain to be 
abundantly frequented. So I found it, and soon had a 
bag sufficiently large to satisfy the most greedy sportsman. 
While shooting, the incessant calling of wild swans had 
attracted my attention, and thus, directed by sound about 
half a mile off, upon the edge of the floe ice, I could distin- 
guish several flocks of these noble birds, each of them com- 
posed of about twenty members. Anxious as I was to ob- 
tain a few specimens, I was not sufficiently sanguine to be- 
lieve that I had the slightest prospect of success, for, from 
the continued fusillade I had kept up, they must have be- 
come well aware of my hiding-place. Still I could not re- 
sist admiring the scene, one not often seen by British 
sportsmen: a vast expanse of frozen salt-water, here and 
there opened by air-holes, and the distant tidal current cov- 
ered with bergs of every shape, nearly all affording resting- 
places for the noble game. The Chesapeake never looked 
more attractive to me than that day; for, although the cold 
was intense, the atmosphere was clear, so that the sharp 
points and rugged outlines of each berg stood out clearly 
defined, while the distant swamp - pines, with their dark- 
green foliage, formed a charming contrast to the other por- 
tions of the snow-and-ice-covered landscape. With my 
field-glass—by-the-way, a most important part of all sports- 
men’s outfit—long and patiently I watched the habits of the 
pure white beauties; and with what pleasure they appeared 
to enjoy their ablutions in the frigid water, one moment 
splashing and throwing it far and wide, at another pursu- 
ing rivals of whom they were jealous, or cooing notes of 
love or admiration over mates in whose favor they wished 
to establish themselves. Again, they would rise and flap 
their broad pinions, as if to test that their exertions had 
not deprived them of the powers of flight; or, struggling 
